Being Dead
by Alex Glaven
Summary: *Akiko* Isaac may be...well...dead, but he's still there! And it's still mudshipping! Kind of...
1. Apology Accepted

Alright, this is what I get for writing fics at four o'clock in the  
morning.  
Isaac: ::in green " I warned you about that"::  
But I HAD to write this! Well, hope you like it!  
  
Being Dead  
  
Chapter 1: Apology Accepted  
  
Isaac couldn't believe it. He was standing on the path, looking down at  
Mia, who was crying, cushioning his head in her lap.  
  
That COULDN'T be right.  
  
And then relization hit him, along with acception.   
  
He was dead.  
  
It had been a normal day, if you could call four Adepts on a life or  
death mission normal in any way. They had been attacked by a  
Chimera...and the rest...  
  
Well, the rest was rather hazy, but he was pretty sure that was the part  
where he had been killed.  
  
"I can't believe it," Garet, kneeling next to Mia, muttered. "He's  
just...he's gone..."  
  
*Not really,* Isaac thought to himself.   
  
Ivan was in tears. "H-he's dead...just like that and h-he's dead..."  
  
Mia rocked back and forth slowly, sobbing over his...body. He long blue  
hair was coming loose from its high pony-tail, strands sticking to the  
tearstained face. Despite the fact that her eyes were becoming red  
rimmed and swollen, she was still very beautiful. Pale like snow,  
beautifully shaped lips turned downward in sorrow, her eyelashes dripping  
tears...  
  
He had never known she cared THAT much.  
  
"Mia..." he reached down to touch her shoulder, then pulled back,  
remembering at the last moment that he couldn't do that. "I never knew  
you cared so much..."  
  
"Isaac?" she looked up, straight at him.  
  
*Through me,* he reminded himself.  
  
"Isaac!" she struggled to her feet and went to hug him...  
  
And fell through him to land on the path. Garet and Ivan were staring at  
him, their eyes wide. Mia picked herself up, slowly.  
  
"Isaac, you're-" she stammered.  
  
"Not solid?" he supplied.  
  
"A...a ghost?" Ivan had gone pale.   
  
Garet didn't say a word, but Isaac could see in his eyes that he wasn't  
all that surprised.  
  
*Must know something I don't...*  
  
"Isaac," Mia sobbed, dropping to her knees again. "I had hoped...I  
hoped..."  
  
"I-I'm sorry," he had raised her hopes, only to send them crashing down  
again. "I didn't exactly ASK for this, you know."  
  
*Yes you did,* an insistant little voice in the back of his mind  
whispered.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said again, telling the little voice firmly to shut up.  
  
Garet shrugged. "Apology accepted."  
  
*****  
  
Yeah...don't ask...blame the crazy Aussie!  
Isaac: ::gives her a weird look::  
This is why Messenger is a bad thing...well...I'll continue  
this...later... 


	2. The Path

Chapter 2: The Path  
  
*This isn't so bad...really, it isn't.*  
  
Isaac stared out at the horizon. The light of dawn was just barely  
beginning to touch a sea of trees in the valley below him.   
  
*I don't have to sleep, I don't have to eat...it's really not that bad.*  
  
"Isaac."  
  
He turned around. No one was there.  
  
"Isaac," this time, the voice, which was deep and sounded very kind, was  
more insistent.  
  
He got to his feet. "Who's there?"  
  
"Isaac, are you ready to come home?"  
  
The landscape in front of him changed until he was looking down a path  
bathed in sunlight. Trees with striped candy for fruit lined both sides,  
and the scent of a new morning after the rain was carried down on a wind  
to meet him. He breathed it in deeply, catching a hint of the almost too  
sweet smell of the trees.  
  
"Just step onto the path," the Voice said gently.   
  
He wanted to. He wanted to just take one step onto the path and leave  
the world behind.  
  
"Wait," he hesitated. "People still need me. I can't be dead yet."  
  
*But I want to be,* he reminded himself.   
  
"That doesn't matter anymore," the pathway became brighter.  
  
"Yes it does. Even if I'm dead, I must still be here for a purpose,"  
Isaac replied, even though everything in him told him to step on the  
path.  
  
"Your father left when you needed him," the Voice reminded him.   
"Sometimes people need to learn to stand on their own. You did."  
  
*He did die when I most needed him,* he thought bitterly.  
  
But then Mia's sad face came into his mind.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't still be here if I couldn't do anything," his words  
betrayed his thoughts.  
  
"You win, Isaac," the Voice laughed softly. "But remember. The path is  
always here."  
  
*****  
  
And to all of the people who asked, yes! It is raining fire! It's the  
third sign of the Apocalypse! Run for you lives! 


End file.
